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(( I was just asking for suggestions. stare ))

((I think everyone died x__x I thought the chimerae were running away?

As for the bad guy thing, Hatchling is over anyway :/))

John was in no condition to fight. His body was exhausted, thrown into a much more active role than he had ever been in his time in the slaughterhouse. His wounds from the previous fight were only just beginning to mend, and flying all day had taken the rest of his strength.

He crumpled where he stood, splashing into a filthy alleyway puddle.

At a loss for what to do, Trent stood behind John, watching Hiccadu. She was fighting against other chimerae, creatures similar to her in that TAIS controlled them, though not as thoroughly. That is what worried him. If Hiccadu had come, alone, with a few rogue chimerae behind her, that would have been better. With no organized pursuits after her, one could assume TAIS had malfunctioned, lost control.

But now, it was evident she hadn't. At least not totally. And this is what made Hiccadu's presence in the given situation so suspicious.

He drew his gun, aiming it in the general direction of Hiccadu and the other chimerae. Not at any of them in particular... But ready to shoot something if he had to.

HIccadu realized she was in this by herself and she growled, her hackles raising.

"Goddammit!"

She dashed forward, leaping up, landing on the croc mix, and using that Chimera as a launching pad to send her upwards into the bird Chimerae, her claws digging down into both of them and her weight sending all three of them crashing down on top of the croc and basset hound.

Hiccadu became aware that more and more of the Chimerae she had been hunting were coming to watch, and she also became irritated at their lack of reaction. What the ******** did they think they were doing just standing there?!

Ah, right. They still thought she was an enemy. The stupid group of attack Chimerae were doing a pathetic job at making their job of hunting down the rogue Hiccadu known. For all the rogues knew these Chimerae Hiccadu was fighting were ******** runaways too. Hell, Hiccadu was surprised the rogues weren't joining in on the assault.

But as powerful as Hiccadu was, the creatures she was facing were stubborn and ready to die, as per TAIS' command. She had YET to kill one of them, Hiccadu noticed with vexing irritation. There were just too many too often...

And she was in a goddamn alleyway in the middle of the city. She couldn't run away. She couldn't fly. She was stuck in this ******** losing battle.

Hiccadu wondered for a moment if TAIS was okay with letting her die.

Then the croc's tail was smacking her in the face, and stars appeared in front of her eyes as she stumbled, wings quivering, one pathetically as the wing joint bled. Barely managing to keep her balance, she raised her head just to have the basset hound slash at it with his claws.

He managed to hit one of her eyes. She bellowed in sheer and utter pain.

"RAAAAAAWR!" The roar was brutal and terrifying, echoing and magnifying through the cement. She shook her head viciously, eye bleeding. "YOU ******** LITTLE b***h!"

Her head snapped outwards like a snake's, sinking down into the basset hound's side and belly. Angrily, she picked him up and shook him like a ragdoll, tearing deep into his flesh before violently tossing him away.

Despite the pain, she felt marginally better. Looks like there would be at least one casualty.

But hey, why stop there?

Turning to the others, one eye swollen shut, she slid down into her stance, snarled, and waited.

She could do without one eye for one fight.

((So I don't think Hiccadu can keep this up FOREVER, as awesome as she is. Any ideas on how this is going to end, Anin? Or do you want Hiccadu to just rip these NPCs apart first, because that's totally doable. biggrin ))

Apsalar looked up at Smoke uncertainly. His explanation made sense because she understood bandages and what they were for - she'd had enough of them - but these were the poorest bandages she'd ever seen. She shifted John so that he was out of the puddle, being careful not to touch the bandages in any way.

She wanted to take John and Smoke and run for it - she hadn't had time to see if the others had followed her down. If they had, they would be coming. If they hadn't, she'd have to get them.

But she didn't want to be around Hiccadu anymore. The vague memories of something - sometime - when she had been on their side were not enough to balance out a lifetime of fear and hate. She wanted to get the rest of her pack away. Hiccadu's battle, whatever it meant, felt wrong somehow - like a warning signal that was nearly audible.

Still, though, how fast would they have to go to get away? And just what did the battle mean, anyway?

With a raucous cawing sound, the air squad retreated, not looking to make sure the ground units followed their vague direction towards the slaughterhouse. The Irish commander, along with her bloodied and bruised four-man team, took a rapid pace up the side of a low building and were gone, holding ribs, broken arms, and covering deep lacerations.

Now Smoke was more tense than he had been during the battle. With the other chimerae gone, now Hiccadu's attention could be focused entirely on them; John, Apsalar, and himself. He was aware of the little damage bullets would do on Hiccadu, but he also knew that it was unlikely he could outrun her. Nevertheless, she was badly wounded, it seemed.

"Time to run," he whispered to Apsalar, hoping she knew what he meant. He knelt, picked John up as quickly as he dared, and began hurrying away from the dangerous chimera, hoping the others had truly run away and weren't waiting to ambush him further down the street.

They were running. Everyone was running away. Soon enough, as the haze in Hiccadu's eyes cleared, she looked around weakly to see herself alone in the alleyway. <********, she collapsed, unable to follow them. The wounds were too deep, too numerous, and her head was pounding. She didn't have the energy.

So she pulled herself- dragged herself- to a tiny, shadowy corner next to a dumpster, and curled up into a tiny, painful little ball.

Her breathing was heavy, and she could feel the blood pooling beneath her. TAIS was allowing the wounds to stay fresh and open, and she simply expected Hiccadu to lay there, and ******** her eyes, Hiccadu prayed that she would wake up again- that TAIS would spare ******** God.

So quickly that it worried her, her consciousness slipped from her grasp.

A cold, icy touch of mechanical consciousness brushed against the outer layers of Hiccadu's mind, stirring the dark abyss.

"Awaken, pet," the soft, chilling voice breathed to the unconscious creature, breath barely entering the poor being's lungs. "Healing IS faster while asleep... but you'll die if you sleep too long." Another touch. The conscience became a bit more awake, and an image began to take shape in the dark folds of Hiccadu's mind. "Wake. You're being addressed."

The haze of sleep lifted just as Smoke finished speaking, but however Hiccadu knew what question had been asked of her. It was the obvious question. Why had she come? Why hadn't she killed John? Why hadn't she raced after them? Yaddayaddayadda.

"Remember my dear," TAIS cooed to her. "Your body isn't nearly as strong now than it is when you're under my command both inside and out. Your wounds will heal, but not as quickly. You're just like them now. ...At least as far as they know."

Hiccadu simply raised her head from the coils of her body, shifting the wing that was unhurt and treating the one that was with great delicacy. She looked at Smoke with only one eye- the one that the hound had slashed had swollen shut. It was no longer bleeding, but until the nerves in her eye regenerated she would have some trouble with depth perception and left-sided blindness. The other was dull with sleep, glazed with bloodloss. She looked at Smoke, looked at the gun, and back at Smoke again. The entire time, her expression didn't change.

"I'm here because I'm no longer there," she replied simply- bitterly. She wasn't used to so much pain, so much soreness. So much cold. The blood beneath her was going to cake and dry up. If she didn't move, some wounds would cake shut on their own. Others would just keep bleeding. It was amazing that so much blood could exist in such a body.

But then again, she was much larger than any other domesticated animal that was allowed in the United States. She could easily maul and eat a Saint Burnard, and still have room for seconds.

"I'm here because..." she trailed off. What was the most heart-wrenching thing she could say? That's right- go back to what made her lose it. To what made her go insane. "Because... that child didn't deserve to die."